This + that: St. John's Bible for pope; Park Square season

St. John's Bible for pope Pope Benedict is expected to make his first trip to the United States next month, but St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., isn't waiting. St. John's president Brother Dietrich Reinhart and other officials will be at the Vatican this week to give the pontiff the first volume of a special reproduction of the St. John's Bible.

The original St. John's Bible is a seven-volume handwritten tome that British calligrapher Donald Jackson has been working on since 1999 with an international team of writers and illustrators. St. John's is publishing two limited-edition reproductions of the set, of which the pope is getting an exclusive "St. Peter Apostles Edition" including original art. The Minnesota-based Gerald and Henrietta Rauenhorst Foundation gave St. John's $1 million for the opportunity to donate the book and name it after one of Jesus' 12 disciples.

MARY ABBE

Park Square season Park Square Theatre plans five area premieres, a Christmas show and a collaboration with the Ordway in its 2008-09 season.

Two big-name playwrights kick off the season. Wendy Wasserstein's "The Sisters Rosensweig" opens Sept. 12. John Patrick Shanley follows with "Defiance" on Oct. 17.

The St. Paul theater then gives a premiere to "Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol" on Nov. 18, starring the funny and versatile Jim Lichtscheidl.

"We only waited for 32 years," said artistic director Richard Cook about the theater's plunge into the holiday competition. "We wanted to find something that wasn't being duplicated in the market, and if it does well we could bring it back."

The biggest splash of the season will be a collaboration with the Ordway Center on "Grey Gardens," the Broadway musical. That will open March 17 at the Ordway's McKnight Theatre.

"One of the advantages is that we will be able to run the show for five more weeks than we could have in our own theater," said Cook, whose playhouse has about the same seating capacity as the McKnight. "It will be a good experiment."

Director Warren Bowles returns to stage Sonja Linden's "I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady From Rwanda," opening April 24.